


Adelina

by olivebranchesandredwine



Series: I wanna hold your hand [8]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Angst and Feels, Canon Queer Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Holding Hands, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:25:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21573925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olivebranchesandredwine/pseuds/olivebranchesandredwine
Summary: Patrick struggles to comfort David on a painful anniversary.
Relationships: David Rose & Adelina, Patrick Brewer & Alexis Rose, Patrick Brewer & Stevie Budd, Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Series: I wanna hold your hand [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1447450
Comments: 52
Kudos: 169





	Adelina

Something wasn’t right. David arrived at the shop even later than he usually did, looking for all the world like he’d been crying. Patrick couldn’t help but notice the puffiness of his eyelids, the dark circles beneath his red-rimmed, bloodshot eyes.

He was still breathtakingly beautiful.

“Hey you,” Patrick muttered as David made his way behind the counter and through the doorway to the stockroom. He emerged shortly thereafter, his bag stowed away, and offered up a half-hearted smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Hi,” David breathed.

“Are you alright?” Patrick reached out to rest his hand on David’s bicep, stroking soothingly along the luxurious black fabric. _Probably cashmere or mohair or emu down or something._

David gave him a pensive look, opened his mouth to speak, and then shook it off. “It’s…it’s nothing, really.” He broke off eye contact and trudged over to the a rumpled-looking display of Alpaca scarves and started folding and smoothing. Patrick tried to turn his attention back to the quarterly projections in front of him, but approximately 87% of his focus was on David in the corner, blinking rapidly, surreptitiously wiping his eyes as he fidgeted with the scarves. 

Patrick didn’t want to pry; he wanted to give David space to sort through whatever he was feeling. But he was worried.

He pulled up the messaging app on his laptop and tried messaging Stevie.

Stevie Budd   
  
**ME [11:13 AM]**do u know what’s wrong w/ david today?  
**STEVIE [11:16 AM]**what’s wrong w/ him? haven’t seen him.  
**ME [11:22 AM]**he’s upset and won’t talk to me. just trying to find out why  


Since that didn’t pan out, he immediately turned a different direction. Maybe Alexis would have more insider knowledge on whatever was going on.

Alexis Rose   
  
**ME [11:21 AM]**do u know what’s wrong w/ david today?  
**ALEXIS [11:16 AM]**aw did u2 have a fight, button?  
**ME [11:28 AM]** no. he’s just upset and isn’t talking to me about it.  
**ALEXIS [11:29 AM]** as long as it’s not bc of something you did…remember I know 7 ways to kill a man and make it look completely natural. 🤗  
**ME [11:30 AM]** it’s not my fault! I don’t think, anyway. he was upset when he came in.  
**ALEXIS [11:34 AM]**OH! today’s the 26th, isn’t it?  
**ME [11:35 AM]**yes why?  
**ALEXIS [11:39 AM]** Adelina. It’s Adelina’s…it’s the anniversary of the day she died.  
**ALEXIS [11:40 AM]**Go easy with him today, button. It’s a hard day for him. They were always super close, and important dates can be extra hard on him.  
**ME [11:41 AM]**thx alexis  


Even after the Rachel incident led them to be more open about their pasts, there were still parts of David’s upbringing that remained shrouded in mystery. Patrick knew Adelina had been their housekeeper and nanny when the Rose kids were younger, but he still didn’t know a lot of the details. From the few bits David had let slip, Patrick surmised that she was an important part of his old life—kind and nurturing in a way that Johnny and Moira Rose had never been.But for whatever reason, it just hadn’t occurred to him that she was dead.

It made sense, though, that someone who’d been that important to David before everything happened wouldn’t just disappear after they lost everything.

Out of the corner of his eye, Patrick continued to watched David flutter about the store, dusting things that didn’t need dusting, straightening up displays that hadn’t been touched since he last organized them, remaining in perpetual motion as though stopping would lead him to break. 

Patrick shut his laptop and closed the distance between them with a few determined strides.

“David,” his voice was a reedy, almost desperate plea, but he couldn’t help it. He needed David to hear him, “Stop, please.” He rested his hand on one of David’s wrists as he fidgeted with bottles of body milk. “Sweetheart, will you stop and talk to me,” he continued, “please?”

David’s eyes were glistening with tears as he turned his face toward Patrick, and he was blinking quickly as though to keep them from escaping. Patrick pulled him in close, one arm winding around his ribcage as the other hand came up to cradle the back of his head. He pressed a kiss to David’s neck and just held on as David’s body began to shake with silent, wracking sobs.

“Alexis told me,” Patrick whispered against David’s neck. “I’m here for you.” Patrick held him there in the center of the store for several long minutes, whispering “I love you” and “You can let it out” and “I’m here” as David shuddered through his tears.

Eventually, David’s body stilled, and he slowly pulled away so that they could look each other in the eye. “I’m so—,” David began, but Patrick shushed him into silence. “No apologies,” he commanded, pulling David’s face down to feather soft kisses along his temple and cheek.

David sniffled, “I…I just miss her a lot. Anniversaries can really suck.”

Patrick gulped in a deep breath, suddenly feeling very uncertain, “I’m…uh, when—I mean _if_ you ever want to…I’m here, you know. If you’d like to tell me about her? I’d love to know more about the woman who raised the love of my life.”

The look in David’s eyes was…it was magical, it was blinding, like looking into a supernova as he processed Patrick’s words—full of love and grief and sadness and longing and hope all tangled up into a single, messy knot.

“I’d like that.”

Patrick’s lips curled up in the barest hint of smile. “Me too. Whenever you’re ready, ok?”

David slid a ring-clad hand down Patrick’s arm and interlaced their fingers, “Thank you, Patrick.”

**Author's Note:**

> Grief anniversaries are hard. Grieving during holidays is hard. Sending lots of love to those out there struggling with it. If you need a virtual shoulder, find me on tumblr.


End file.
